A two-and-half-year girl child was allegedly sexually assaulted by five hearing and speech impaired youth in Rewa district on Saturday evening.

A two-and-half-year girl child was allegedly sexually assaulted by five hearing and speech impaired youth in Rewa district on Saturday evening.

The accused are reported to be the students of a government school for deaf and mute located in Mahajan Tola area of Rewa, about 535 km northeast of Bhopal.

Three of them have already been arrested, while the two others are missing.

Police said the accused lived in a rented room in Mahajan Tola of Rewa town. The victim is also a resident of the same locality.

Police said the victim was playing with her four-year-old sister outside her house when the accused took her to a secluded place and allegedly attempted to rape her. Meanwhile, the child's elder sister saw the incident and informed her parents. The parents gathered some local residents, rushed to the spot and assaulted the youth.

Superintendent of police Ashutosh Pandey said following this the accused reached the Kotwali police station and filed a complaint of assault.

"But during the investigation it was found that the accused had tried to rape the child. Hence, a case was registered under section 376 of Indian Penal Code (IPC). Three of the accused have been arrested. The rest of them would be nabbed soon," he told the HT.

The arrested accused have been identified as Shashikant Tiwari, a resident of Churhat in Sidhi district; Rambharose Kori, a resident of Janeh in Rewa district and Krishna Kumar, a resident of Shahdol district. The two missing youth have been identified as Lucky Namdeo and Ashish Raidar.